What’s a Good Palate-Cleanser Show?

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My wife and I are looking for a show to watch after we finish “The Night Of,” or some similarly bleak drama. Something so I don’t have nightmares, but hopefully, something I haven’t seen before and I can get invested in.

My wife and I tend to lose motivation with shows with primarily stand-alone episodes (like “Bob’s Burgers”) and need a through narrative thread to keep us going. Ideally this show is not longer than 45 minutes (although 30 would be better). We just finished “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” which filled this slot well. We’re looking for something a little out of left field … — Kevin

If you generally skip over teen shows, you’ve been missing out. Expand your horizons! If you avoided “The O.C.” or “Gossip Girl” when they were on, this is the ideal circumstance in which to watch them. (Neither needs to be watched all the way through, but the first seasons of each are magical.) Both shows are chitter-chatter delights, and there’s enough plot and story to keep you hooked but no lingering psychological baggage. “My Mad Fat Diary,” a British teen import about a recently suicidal teen girl, is thoughtful and hilarious, and a more earnest follow-up to “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

Lots of CW shows will fit the bill here. (I’m going to assume you already watch “Jane the Virgin,” too. This goes for all Watchers: Even if you think “Jane” is not typically your kind of show, give it a try.) “The L.A. Complex,” as recommended here a few months ago, is one such sudsy-but-substantive series. “Reaper,” from 2007, is about a slacker college dropout who discovers his parents sold his soul to the Devil, and now he has to work as one of Satan’s bounty hunters. It’s sweet and funny, and I’m one of dozens of people who watched it back when it was on. There are two seasons, both available on ABC.com. (Free, but it has an oppressive number of commercials.)

But if you want a more traditional show for and about adults, try “Sensitive Skin.” It’s a Canadian remake of a British series of the same name, but this version stars Don McKellar (“Slings and Arrows”) and Kim Cattrall as a couple trying to figure out what the post-parenting pre-retirement phase of their life is supposed to look like. It’s billed as a dark comedy, but it feels more like a half-hour drama to me. Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix.

“Sensitive Skin,” above, has only six episodes per season, which is unbearably scanty. Same goes for the low-impact but endearing “The Book Group,” a 2002 British show available on Hulu about an American expat (Anne Dudek; you know her from a million shows) trying to make new friends in Glasgow. It’s not earth shattering, but it has well-drawn characters with clear ideas of themselves, which is way more than you can say about most shows.

Finally, there are Ewan McGregor’s motorcycle-trip documentary series “Long Way Round” (2004) and “Long Way Down” (2007). In each, McGregor and his BFF take a motorcycle trip around the world, first the “long way [a]round” from England to New York City, then from Scotland to South Africa. The paperwork alone is enough to keep me couch-bound, but these two seasons are equal parts charm, adventure and the worldview that most people are mostly good most of the time. Plus, unlike “The Night Of,” no extended foot-lotioning sequences. That is the true palate cleanser.